We spent a very happy and hot day at Roarr! with a very happy and hot child this week. During lockdown I had asked L to write down anything that he wanted to do once we were able and visiting the dinosaurs was on that list, so when we were gifted tickets to visit I couldn’t wait to tell him.

Now we have visited Roarr! on many occasions and I have written about it lot too. I’m going to try to not go over old ground and just stick to things that have changed this summer, the new attraction and the obvious changes because of Covid-19.

Covid has been a weird thing and has left me feeling quite anxious all the time, my default mode is quiet solitude, away from crowds. Socialising has always been something I’ve struggled with, so in general lockdown life suited me very well! That being said it’s now made everything that little bit harder for me, forcing myself out of that bubble I was so enjoying and my anxiety has got significantly worse. So I was a little concerned about out trip to Roarr!

Like most places now you have to book your ticket to Roarr! in advance and select an arriva time slot that you must stick to, this helps avoid queues and keeps the park flowing quite nicely.

There is hand sanitizer dotted everywhere around the park, before and after attractions and near the food outlets. Plenty of signs reminding people to distance and to put masks on when entering buildings. There is a new exit point so that you don’t have to exit via the gift shop unless you want to. There are also a few one way systems in place, through the gift shop for one, down through the Dinosaur trail and also through the Secret Garden to see the animals.

A few things around the park are currently closed. The indoor soft play areas were closed when we visited, the deer safari was closed and the big dinosaur slide was also closed. Whilst both the Splash Zone and High Ropes are open you do need to book time slots for them, you book for the Splash Zone near the entrance to it, best to that on arrival as the slots book up quickly and you book for the Predator High Ropes at guest relations. Obviously what things are open and closed will change along with the government guidance and depending on weather, but this is what it was like when we visited.

The newest attraction for 2020 is Dippy’s Raceway, L loved it. A fab little outdoor racetrack with little crs the kids get to drive round on. It was the only thing we had to queue for all day, never for too long, but it was very popular and made L very happy. You can also see Dippy live during the day on a little stage ner all the play equipment, or meet animals from the secret garden, there are shows throughout the day at regular intervals and somehow we managed to miss every single one!

For the most part I felt very safe and thought that they had gone to a lot of effort to keep everyone safe. It was a little busier than I was expecting, but it’s hard to know what to expect at the moment. The only points the amount of people bothered me was in the crazy golf area, so we left after a few holes, this upset L but it is down to us as adults to decide what we are happy with and many people obviously were fine with it. There were a few points on the dinosaur trail a lot of people had gathered and weren’t moving on making it hard to maintain distance, but it wasn’t too bad. In fact any time I did feel uncomfortable it certainly wasn’t down to Roarr! and all they had done, it was just down to how I felt personally and how other people felt differently and that is life.

Ultimately we had a great day, we had bought a picnic with us that we enjoyed under the watchful eyes of the dinosaurs (you can still go back to the car and re-enter to fetch things like that) and were there for a good four hours. L felt like it was a normal day and barely noticed the things that were closed or different, he just got on with having fun and was happy he was able to get another squashed penny for his collection, he was worried that he wouldn’t be able to as a few places have removed their machines.

It’s one of our favourite days out and is always a treat for L, we’re not able to visit enough to warrant a season pass but as it is a more expensive day out it’s not somewhere we go all the time, so whenever we do visit there is always something new to see. This visit was definitely a highlight of L’s summer holidays and it has been so nice to be able to something that felt almost normal.

Disclosure – we were gifted our entrance tickets. All thoughts, opinions and images are my own. For up to date guidance on park rules and what is and isn’t open please refer to the Roarr! website.